John Ivison: Liberal convention reveals party stirring from stupor

“We have concluded the problem is not going to go away,” said the man from the Liberal Party.

It’s a line that is appropriate in all times and situations for the hapless Grits.

On this occasion though, he was referring to the failure of the electronic voting system on the convention floor that ground proceedings to a halt Saturday lunchtime – confirming the reputation of the Liberal Party as a political organization that couldn’t find the time in a hatful of watches.

In many ways these are the same old, same old Liberals – Bob Rae’s the leader; Sheila Copps, who became an MP when Madonna was still a virgin, is running to be party president; the Laurier Club suite is still stuffed with the same tired old stuffed shirts.

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Yet this convention is not the deathwatch I had anticipated. The mood is sober as a Liberal convention is likely to get, given its reputation for what British satirical magazine used to refer to euphemistically as “Ugandan discussions” (so-called because Uganda’s ambassador in London was once caught in a compromising circumstance with a young lady, with whom he said he was holding …..).

There does seem to be a realization that the party has to change or wither. And there are signs that the Liberals are moving into the 21st century when it comes to fund-raising – 58% of the money raised last year came from electronic sources and only 4% from the type of dinners that used to bring in tens of millions of dollars.

The delegates have also shown they’re mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. In one non-binding vote before the electronic voting system went on the fritz, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of removing protections from sitting MPs and opening up all ridings to nomination battles.

The biggest cheers on the opening night were for Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who passed on what he called his “frontline experience fighting neo-conservatives”.

He suggested that there remains a great deal of goodwill in Canada for the Liberal Party but, if it is ever to win again, it will require hard graft. “There are no saviours. There are no overnight successes. There is only hard work.”

His Ontario Liberals were in the wilderness in 1996 but changed their constitution, strengthened their riding associations and scoured the globe for fresh, new ideas.

“A party that’s serious about forming the government understands that polls can impede our view of the future. We learned the most important question is not ‘what do people want today?’ but rather ‘what will people need tomorrow?’. The first question speaks to ‘followership’. The second to leadership and people want leadership,” he said.

There are signs that the Liberals are stirring from their stupor and are preparing for change. What’s not yet clear is the complexion of that change.

The vote on whether to adopt U.S. style primaries to select the next leader was postponed until Saturday evening because of the technological glitch but that move is being pushed by young Liberals who point out that three times as many Canadians believe special interest groups are more effective vehicles for political change than old style parties “Young people want to date not marry,” said one youth delegate.

Under the vote held Saturday evening, Canadians who become Liberal “supporters” but not members will be able to elect the next leader. Mr. Rae claimed that the chance to allow “supporters” to vote was an “extraordinary opportunity” and urged members to vote for the motion. Young Grit president Samuel Lavoie suggested that this would make the Liberal Party less a private club and more of a movement. Despite opposition on the floor against the adoption of a “two-tier” membership system, the party adopted the idea. The Liberal Party, not a party easily rocked by revolution, made a fairly major change to its constitution.

It’s not clear to me how morphing into an Occupy style loose association is going to help make Liberal problems go away. But one supposes the Grits have to do something and this is, undeniably, something.